Advanced Transdisciplinary Writing

This is a year-long capstone course that focuses on research writing, critical and interdisciplinary thinking, the integration of research to the design process, and the communication of design concepts, in an effort to reach beyond the architectural thesis. Paramount is the development of a narrative and critical framework for a design proposal that engages the discipline and practice of architecture, as well as contemporary theoretical, social, political, and cultural discourse that culminates in a Degree Project Book.

 

History of Applied Building Technology

How do architects and other professionals work together to meet functional needs and broader cultural needs? What works from the past provide insight into how we should be building during the ongoing climate crisis? These are among the questions posed in this course where major developments in building technology across cultures and time periods are explored. Function, form, structures, and environmental, cultural, and historical context are considered.

 

Contemporary Architecture and Urban Theory

This survey of urban and architectural theory concerns itself with the key debates, strategies, and tactics deployed by design practitioners, social critics, and theorists to steer and discuss urban and architectural form. Using a thematic approach, primary, and secondary sources, this course familiarizes students with important social, economic, political, and technological agendas that have shaped the design of the built environment of the public realm since the mid-19th century. 

 

Co-taught courses

Architecture and Society

This course examines how the built environments of global societies, informed by particulars of site, culture, and technology, have a profound impact on personal health, happiness, productivity, and community life. The purpose of this inquiry is to promote an understanding of the role architecture has played in pre-history and from 1750 to the present. 

 

Investigating the Exhibition

A goal of this course is to sensitize the student to the art world by looking at contemporary exhibitions, curatorial theory, cultural institutions, and the connections between art, design, and architecture. Recognizing the disciplines of architecture and design as cultural practices that bring together various perspectives—artistic, historical, political, economic, scientific, and theoretical—the course alerts students to the multidisciplinary nature of applied art disciplines and generates awareness of how architecture and design are positioned in the context of the art world.

 

Visual Literacy
Using historical, theoretical, and contemporary material, this course examines still and moving photography, graphics, and art as critical tools of communication. The goal is to promote a consciousness of various modes of visual communication and to cultivate the ability to evaluate visual language and use it in a critical manner.